Christian bikers roar into city

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/07/2010 (5543 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Westman was invaded by hogs this weekend. But they came with messages of peace.

The Christian Motorcyclists Associations of Canada and the United States held their rally, "No Borders", in Brandon from Thursday to Saturday. More than 300 bikers attended.

The event takes place every two years and brings in bikers from across Canada and the US. The countries take turns hosting it, with the last rally held in Minnesota.

The North American organizations are part of the worldwide Christian Motorcyclists Association (CMA) that exists in 27 countries.

John Ogden is the CEO/chairman of the board of directors for the CMA in the United States. He drove more than 2,000 kilometres from Arkansas to participate in the four-day event. He says this past year he has attended 12 rallies all over the world in places like Thailand, Malaysia, Peru and South Africa.

"I travel so far because the purpose of the CMA is to take the gospel of Jesus to bikers, wherever they may be in the world," Ogden said.

He was happy to be back in Canada for this year’s event and said Brandon has been a great host city.

"Brandon has been great. I love Brandon. I love Canada. I love the people up here," he said.

Janice Ricker travelled on the back of her husband Gaius’ bike from Moncton N.B. She says participating with the CMA together is something they cherish.

"It’s both a sport and a ministry that we can do as a couple. We just love to ride with one another. We have headsets so we can talk back and forth."

She says she is thrilled when strangers will approach her after seeing their bike or their T-shirts with the organization’s name or logo.

"I love that people feel they can approach me in a convenience store and tell me their relative is sick or something and ask for our prayer. That’s what we’re all about is helping people wherever they are," she said.

Ricker and her husband are the regional co-ordinators of the CMA of Canada for the Atlantic provinces, and have attended all of the No Borders rallies.

"We get a lot of encouragement from one another at this event. To pray together and encourage one another really gives you a lift so you can go back out and take the message out to other bikers, even the Hells Angels, that God loves them no matter who they are."

Leo Boivin, a member of the Brandon Christian Light Riders chapter of the Christian Motorcyclists Association of Canada, agrees with Ricker.

"Rarely do we all meet together as a big group to celebrate our own faith with each other. It’s a time we do once every few years to touch base with each other and reinforce each other in our faith so that we do go out into our individual chapters, we have a protection over us."

Boivin says he is thrilled with the success of the event and has heard a lot of positive comments from other bikers.

"I’ve heard that Brandon raised the bar this year, so we’re really happy with that."

Festivities began on Thursday with an ice cream social and continued throughout the weekend with devotionals, speaker sessions and self-guided tours around the Brandon region.

The main events took place yesterday with a parade and motorcycle games. More than 120 bikes were featured in the parade, which went from Sixth Street and Pacific Avenue to the former Kinsmen Stadium at Brandon University.

Many relatives and friends turned out to support the bikers, but the parade also brought out some curious spectators.

Murray and Maryanne Pierce were seated on the curb with their grandsons.

"We don’t really know anything about the association, but we read about the parade in the paper and thought we should bring them. My three-year-old grandson Pierce (Cords) loves motorcycles."

Yesterday afternoon, bikers participated in challenges that tested their steering and balance skills including a road kill toss, tire toss, jousting and the feature event, the challenging slow race, where the last biker to cross the finish line without putting his or her foot down on the way won.

The weekend festivities wrapped up this morning with a church service.